peters



Y i @uiten tstes gettati ffies.

IMPROVEMENT IN LOOlVIS.

(dige .stimule referrer tu in tlgest etttts gttent mit mating gat tf tige tana TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Bc it known that I, CHARLES MILLER, of the. city and county of St. Louis, andv State of Missouri, have invented a new and useful Improvement i1i Looms; and I do hereby declare thatthefollowing is a fulland clear .description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

Figure 1, sheet 1 of the drawings, is a top plan of the improved loom.

lFigure 2, sheet 1, is a front elevation of it.

Figure 3, sheet 1, is an end elevation.

lFigure 4, sheet 2, is a transverse section taken on the line y, in fig. 1.

Figure 5, sheet 2, is a longitudinal section taken on line x1 y, in tig. 1.

AFigure 6, sheet 2, is a horizontal section taken on line x2 y2, in g. 2.

This invention relates, firstly, to the construction and arrangement of the driving-shaft, by means of which the loom is worked; secondly, to the shifting-bar, by means of which the picking sticks are operated, so as to drive the shuttle through the warp, and also to the peculiar mechanism -for driving the shifting-bar; thirdly, to the twill-governor or device for working the harnesses in such a manner as to produce regular or irregular figures in the woven fabric; and, fourthly, to the tension strap on the warp-beam, by means of which the warp is kept tight in the loom.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my improvcdzloom, I will proceed to describe its con-` struction and operation.

A is the frame, on which the other parts of the loom are constructed, and does not differ materially from the frames of looms now in use.4 B is a driving-wheel, which may receive its motion either from some other piece of machinery, or from hand power. The wheel B gears into the counter-wheel B1, and communicates motion to it and its shaft, B2. It has always been the practice in looms to place this counter-shaft entirely i across the frame, and have a crank at both ends of it to drive the lay-frame C. As I intend 'to simplify and cheapen the loom, 1 place a bearing, a, near the centre of the beam A1, so as to receive and support theshaft B3 at' that point, as shown in iig. 1. This shaft need not, therefore, be longer than one-half the length of the frame, and the loom will be considerably chea-pencd and lightened by this construction. The inner end of the shaft B2 has a crank, b, which is connected by means of the connecting-rod b1 with the lay-frame C, the upper beam of which receives a vibrating or reciprocating motion therefrom at every revolution of the crank. The lay-frame C consists of an upper and a lower beam, connected together by two end posts, on the lower ends of which are journals, which. have their hearings in the boxes c attached to the end beams of the frame A. As the lower part of the lay-frame can only receive a rolling motion around thc axis of the bearings c, and as its upper part or top beam receives a reciprocating motion from the crank b, it follows that the general motion ofthe lay frame will be a rocking' motion. Directly behind the lay-frame there are two posts, A2, firmly secured to the frame A, and on the inside of its c nd beams. Between these two posts, or some other similar attachments of the 'frame A, thc shifting-bar D is arranged to slide a short distance in either direction longitudinally. The two picking sticks C1, which are intended to drive the shuttle through the warp from side to side alternately, as in other looms, are passed through mortises in the bottom beam of the frame C, and held Vthere by a single pin,

about the axis of which they vibrate. The bottom ends of these picking sticks pass below the bottom beam of the lay-frame, and are there connected by means of wires, cords, or some other suchldevices, with a spring, C2, which draws the bottom ends of both of them toward the spring. The top ends of these sticks enter grooves cut in the bottom side of the top beam of the lay-frame, and, as they are driven back and forth alternately, send the shuttle through the loom in the usual manner, consequently the shuttle arrangement will not be herein minutely described.- In order to. work the picking sticks in the proper manner, I bevel 'olf the outside of` each of theirnat the point where they would strike against the' shifting-stops d, the said stops being short studs attached to the shifting-bar D, and bevelled olf on the .same inclination as the bevelling of the picking sticks, as, shown in iig. *6. The distance between the shifting-stops is a little less than the distance between the picking sticks, so that, as the lay-frame and its picking sticks are rocked back toward the shifting-bar at each revolution of the crank I), one of the stops (Z will strike its picking stick, tbe bevellcd edges of the two coming in contact with each other, and the stick sliding rapidly up on the stop, its upper end will receive a sudden jerk,

which will give the required motion to the shuttle. While one of the stops is thus moving the picking stick, the other one will be inside of its stick, which will pass it without touching at the rst revolution, but before the next revolution ofthe lay-frame, the shifting-bar and its two stops will have changed positions, and the second stop will then move itjsf'picking stick, and so on, at'each revolution of the crank I), one ofthe picking sticks will be operated, and the other one will remain stationary', each one operating alternately and the other remaining stationary.` To accomplish the desired motion of the shifting-bar, I attach dto sonic convenient portion of the frame Aa ratchet, E. This ratchet may be placed in any convenient position, either before or behind the layflame, and it will, in either case, be operated by means of the pawl El, and secured by the dog E2. The pawl EI is attached to the lay-frame, and at each vibration of the said frame the ratchet will be moved up a certain distance, care being taken in the construction of the ratchet, and the teeth of it so arranged that when the pawl leaves one tooth it will drop back into lanother notch or tooth, and then move the' ratchet forward without any lost forward motion of the pawl. In the facel of the ratchet there `is a'star-shaped groove, e, and the lever E, connected with its fulcrum at el, and with the shifting-bar at its other end, passes over or under the grooved face of the ratchet, and has a projecting pin entering therein, but not shown. The construction of these parts is such that at each revolution ofthe lay-frame, the aforesaid pin of the le'ver E3 will be alternately `in a salient and then in are-enterihg angle of the groeve e, and so'the said lever, operating upon .the shifting-bar to move it, will alternately throw it first toward one end, and then toward the other, thus keeping up a constantmotion both of .the shifting-bar and also of the picking sticks, as already explained, and the desired motion of the shuttle will, in this manner, be easily accomplished. F represents two posts, erected upon the tiop of the frame A, for th'e purpose of furnishing guides for the harness-frames Fl. There will be, say, half a dozen, more or less, of these harness-frames, according to the figure or twill desired. From the bottom of each of these harnessframes a short stud, F2, `projects downward, far enough to strike the twill-governor wheel F3; This governor.` wheel F3 is formed oftwo circular end plates f, which are connected together by means of rods fl, as 'shown in gs. 4 and 6. The distance between these rods is just sufficient tovallow the lower end of the stud F2 to pass between them easily as the said wheel is raised up,as hereinafter explained. The Wheel F3 is mounted on two journals, secured to the platesf, the said journals finding their bearings in ihe sliding stand F4. The top plate f2 of this stand is perforated with mortises, so that the stud F2 ma;1 easily pass through the said mortises and be guided thereby. The bottom leg of the sliding stand is supported by a stationary stand, F5, which is erected uponthe beam A3, and constructed so that the stand F* caneasily slide up and down therein once at each revolution of the shaft B2. The way this is accomplished is as follows: The cord or strap f3, clearly shown in fig. 4, is attached to the bottom end of the stand F2 through a slot cut in that side of Athe sta-nd F5, so as to lallow the cord to slide up and down in the said slot, and follow the motions of the stand F4. From the point of its attachment to the stand F4, the cord or strap f3 passes up to and over the sheavef4, attached to the standvf,` and thence down to the lever f6, to which it is made fast, as shown in iig. 4. This lever f6 is attached at its back end'to the stand f', so its forward end may receive a vertical motion. The forward end of this lever atfs is made to extend a shortdistance, say three or four inches, more or less, toward the front of the machine, and is bent downward, as also shown in fig. 4, at an angle of about thirty degrees, more or less, to the horizon. A short foot, fg, is att-ached to the lay-frame, and from thence extends backwardand downward, so aste strike the inclined surface of the lever at its lowest and foremost point first, and then slide up and back on `the saidV inclined surface, as thelay-frame ismoved back at each stroke, thereby moving the said lever downward, and it in turn will draw the cord f3 down with it, which cord, acting over the sheave f* upon the sliding stand F2 will'raise the said stand once at each stroke of the lay-frame. As soon as the foot fg is withdrawn from the incline f5 of the leyer f6, the stand F* will drop down by its own gravitation, and thus the stand F1r will, at each stroke of the lay-frame, make one vertical stroke up and down. A ratchet-wheel, FG, is fastened to one end of the wheel F3, and it is turned by means of a pawl, fl, attached to the beam A?, and held to the point to which it is turned by means of the dog fu. At each upward stroke of the stand F4 'the pawl f will drop back a certain distance on the ratchet, and as the stand drops down at each stroke, the pawl will piish the ratchet over acertain distance, which will be `so arranged. that at each motion of the wheel F3 the studs F" will come between two of the rods f1, which, in certain instances, (which will be hereinafter explained) will slide up along the sides of the saidy studs, without carrying them with the upward motion of' the wheel. There will be bridge piecesffitted in between the rods f, in siich a manner that. they may be changed tp any desired position or side of the wheel. There will usually be one or two of these bridges arranged to come directly under each of the studs FZ, and when the bridge, which belongs in the pathway of any particular stud, comes to the top of the wheel, the said stud will strike on the top of the said bridge and not pass down between the roes f1, as at other times, and consequently when each bridge comes to the top of the wheel, the stud and harncss'frame to which it belongs will receive the necessary upward motion, and then drop down again, as soon as the wheel drops, as has already been described. A simple and-cheap harness motion can thus be produced, and the harnesses set, by means of the adjust-able bridges f, to move up at any desired time, and the configuration of tlie twilling figuring on the woven fabric will be governed Orregulated accordingly. The warp-beam G is placed along the back of the loom-frame in 'its usual position, and on each end of it there is a friction-pulley, g. Around each of these pulleys I draw a friction-strap, gl, one end of which is fastened to the frame a't g2, and the other end is taken down and attached to the rod g3, which may he tightened up on the friction-strap by means of its thumb-screw g4. The pressure of the friction-straps upon their wheels may be cased and regulated by the spiral spring g5, which intervenes between the thumb-nut or screwg and the bearing gs. The take-up beam H is arranged across the front end of the frame A in the usual position, and is so arranged that it will wind the right side ot' the goods outwardly, which is much better than the present mode of winding the goods wrong side out. The take-up beam is actuated by the usual appliances ofthe ratciie't 7L and its -pawi h1, the said paul being moved by the lay-frame at each stroke. The shank h2 of the pawi extends back of the posts A2, and is drawn up by the spring h3 instead 'of :L weight, as formerly.

Having described my invention, what I claim, isl. The. combination of the short shaft 13 2-the crank b, and rod b1, when the Whole are arranged in connection with the lay-frame in the manner and for the purpose described.

2. I claim the combination and arrangement of the shifting bar D and its stops Z und Vti'icpicking sticks C1.

3. I claim the ratchet E and ius star-shaped groove e, for thepurpose of giving the required motion to the shifting bar.

4. I claim the combination of the ratchet E and the iever E3, substantially as described and for the purpose set fort-h.

5. I claim the combination and arrangement of the twill-governor, composed of the devices F2 F3 F; F5 F5, f3 f* f5 f5 and f7, substantially as described and set forth.

CHARLES MILLER.

Witnesses:

Cms. H. BoYLn, M'. RANDOLPH. 

